Numerous procedures have been established to coat surfaces, such as CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition), PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition), plasma coating, the Langmuir-Bodgett-Technique and adsorption or reaction from solution. These methods lead to the formation of thin or ultrathin films (including monolayers).
The average thickness of thin and ultrathin films ranges up to several micrometers. For example, self assembled films are well studied, i.e. films which assemble spontaneously from homogeneous solution at surfaces. For example, diphosphates form self-assembled multilayers (Ulman, A.; Chem. Rev. 1996,96,1533 and Ulman, A.; MRS Bulletin 1995,6,46). Self-assembled monolayers form among others, with organosulfur compounds, which typically contain a thiol, disulfide or thioether group (loc.cit). Such organosulfur compounds exhibit a strong affinity to transition metal surfaces. Their coordination to gold, silver, copper, platinum, mercury, iron, gallium arsenide and colloidal gold surfaces has already been studied (loc.cit). Organoselenium compounds, such as organoselenols on gold (Samant, M. G.; Brown, C. A.; Gordon II, J. G.; Langmuir 1992,8,1615), and fatty acids, e.g., n-alkanoic acids on Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Ago, Cuo and glass (Ulman, A; Chem. Rev. 1996,96,1533 and Ulman, A.; MRS Bulletin 1995,6,46) also form self-assembled monolayers. The adsorption of alkanenitriles (Steiner, U. B.; Caseri, W. R.; Suter, U. W.; Langmuir 1992,8,2771), phosphines, triphenylamine, triphenylarsine, triphenyistilbine, triphenylbismuthine (Steiner, U. B.; Neuenschwander, P.; Caseri, W. R.; Suter, U. W.; Stucki, F.; Langmuir 1992,8,90), imides (Steiner, U. B.; Caseri, W. R.; Suter, U. W.; Rehahn, M.; Schmitz, L.; Langmuir 1993,9,3245) and tricosylisocyanide (Bain, C. D.; Eval, J.; Whitesides, G. M.; J.Am.Chem.Soc. 1989,111,7155) is also described. Monolayers with covalent C--Si bonds are obtained on H--Si(111) or H--Si(100) silicon surfaces with the help of peroxides (Ulman,A.; Chem. Rev. 1996,96,1533). Organosilicon compounds, which typically contain a chlorosilane, alkoxysilane or aminosilane group also form self-assembled monolayers on substrates such as silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, quartz, glass, mica, zinc selenide, germanium oxide, and gold (Ulman, A.; Chem. Rev. 1996,96,1533 and Ulman, A.; MRS Bulletin 1995,6,46).